FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEContact: Ben DeMarzoPhone: (908) 705-7714Thursday, September 10, 2009             Diegnan Joins Corzine in a Negative Smear Campaign  Assemblyman Can't Stand on the Issues So He Resorts to MudslingingSOUTH PLAINFIELD- District 18 Assembly candidates Joe Sinagra and Bob Jones today responded to the negative telephone "push poll" being conducted by Assemblyman Patrick Diegnan (D-South Plainfield). Assembly candidate Bob Jones, a member of the South Plainfield Board of Education, responded that, "Like Jon Corzine, Patrick Diegnan can't run a campaign on his record because his past 7 years in Trenton have consisted of votes for higher taxes and a cloud of ethical controversies. Diegnan has sunk to a new low by assailing 18 year-old high school students in his latest mudslinging attack."Assembly candidate Joe Sinagra, the former Helmetta Council President, added, "Patrick Diegnan has to launch a negative smear campaign because he wants to hide from his record of raising taxes by $8.32 billion while in Trenton. Like Governor Corzine, Diegnan doesn't want voters to know that he has forced over 200,000 jobs out of New Jersey and raised property taxes almost 20 percent." The American Association of Political Consultants considers "push polling" to be an activity that "corrupts or degrades the practice of political campaigning."[1] Both Sinagra and Jones are calling for Diegnan to apologize to the students of South Plainfield High School and are calling on his running mate, Assemblyman Peter J. Barnes III (D-Edison), to denounce push polling in the spirit of an issue-oriented campaign. Sinagra and Jones are running a grassroots campaign in the Middlesex-based 18th Legislative District, which includes East Brunswick, Edison, Helmetta, Metuchen, South Plainfield, South River, and Spotswood. ###[1] "AAPC Board of Directors Declaration Regarding Push Polling,"  American Association of Political Consultants, 23 May 1996, <http://www.theaapc.org/about/pushpolling/>